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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28187274">The Gentleman’s Rules of Courtship</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fancywaffles/pseuds/fancywaffles'>fancywaffles</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>2020DimilixExchange, Awkward Flirting and Seduction Attempts, Courting Rituals, Established Relationship, Fluff and Smut, Idiots in Love, Insecurity, M/M, Miscommunication, Post-Canon, Trans Felix Hugo Fraldarius</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 21:41:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,273</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28187274</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fancywaffles/pseuds/fancywaffles</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Felix can't figure out how to convince Dimitri to take things to the next level, so he asks Sylvain for advice.</p><p>(or, felix wants to drive to bonetown and needs directions)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Felix Hugo Fraldarius</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>148</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>2020 Dimilix Exchange</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Gentleman’s Rules of Courtship</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackberrychai/gifts">blackberrychai</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For Berry, who had ridiculously amazing prompts, but this one made me laugh for literally ten minutes. I hope I did it justice!</p><p>Minor CW: There's a teeny hint of dysphoria among some insecurities, but it's very minor. Most of this is just Felix and Dimitri being awkward turtles. Some AFAB terms used.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Felix foolishly assumed that sharing his feelings for Dimitri and having them reciprocated would lead to fulfilling one of eight thousand fantasies he’d thought of during long, frustrating nights since puberty. Instead, another evening of talking of governance and other things over tea passed and then Dimitri walked Felix to his room. He didn’t come in the room with him. He didn’t do <em>anything</em> except wish Felix a good night.</p><p>And it kept happening. Occasionally Felix would receive the top prize for closed mouthed chaste kisses, annoyingly placed on the corner of his mouth in a way that made his heart skip. Nothing else would follow. Dimitri would go back to <em>his own room</em> and they wouldn’t speak of it.</p><p>Felix didn’t know how to approach it. He couldn’t say anything and anytime he tried to make it clear he wanted more than a warm hand on his shoulder, his own hands froze at his sides thinking about what he wanted to do with them. Everything was so… awkward.</p><p>When they were younger, Felix had no issue hanging off Dimitri’s arm, laying on his stomach as they napped in the sun, or gifting butterfly kisses to his temple to make him laugh. It was different now. Felix had honed himself like a weapon and doing anything else felt strange.</p><p>As much as Felix hated the idea, the opportunity of asking an expert arrived about a month into his frustrations. It wasn’t suspicious in the slightest for him to volunteer to go to Gautier when Sylvain requested assistance regarding an issue he was having with the territory closest to Sreng. Maybe Felix wasn’t required to deliver the documents himself and maybe his presence for advice of a diplomatic nature was a bit of a stretch, but it still wasn’t anything to raise an alarm.</p><p>Dimitri saw him off, brushing his knuckles lightly over Felix’s cheek and leaning down to kiss his forehead. It was… ridiculous and Felix felt as if his entire face was on fire. He didn’t know how to reciprocate so only patted Dimitri’s chest with his hand and then turned around quickly to make for his horse.</p><p> </p><p>&amp;</p><p> </p><p>Felix arrived at Gautier close to the latter half of midday. Sylvain smiled and waved from his spot near the front of the Gautier estate, likely just been given notice of Felix’s arrival.</p><p>Felix found himself turning around immediately and making his way for his horse as he realized what a horrible fucking idea this was and that he needed to get out of there as quickly as possible.</p><p>The arrival and then sudden departure had not been subtle, given Sylvain’s questioning, “Felix?” yelled out as Felix snatched the reigns of his horse back from the attendant and pulled himself up again.</p><p>He got maybe three paces outside of the Gautier gates with his mare, before Sylvain caught up to him. Felix wouldn't say Sylvain was necessarily better than him, but he'd had more experience and Sylvain's riding skills were going to make it difficult to continue his escape with any shred of dignity left.</p><p>“What was that?” Sylvain asked, once Felix dismounted and they walked their horses back to the estate.</p><p>Felix refused to look at him, he felt his face burning up to his ears. It wasn’t like he’d even <em>said</em> anything. He could have simply decided not to say anything and treated this like what it was supposed to be, a simple matter of delivering requested resources.</p><p>“Nothing, I…” Felix tried to think of a reasonable explanation for that maneuver and went blank. “I don’t know what that was.”</p><p>He made the mistake of glancing at Sylvain, who was squinting in concentration and appearing far too interested. “Felix, what’s going on?”</p><p>Fine. Whatever. Honesty then. “I wanted to ask your advice on something, but it was a terrible idea and I realized that the second I saw you.”</p><p>“Ouch."</p><p>“It’s not—” Ugh. Now he’d insulted him. “That isn’t what I meant.”</p><p>Sylvain sighed heavily. “I’m having trouble figuring out <em>what</em> you mean. What did you need advice on from me?”</p><p>Felix didn’t want to answer and apparently didn’t need to. Sylvain made a noise, somewhere between a clicking of his tongue and a long sigh and then laughed. “Oh! You have <em>romantic</em> questions?”</p><p>Felix considered remounting his horse.</p><p>“Come on, Felix,” Sylvain said, stopping both their horses somehow with a single whuffed command and then Felix’s mare (<em>Felix’s</em>) refused to budge. “It’s me. I’m not going to judge.”</p><p>Felix glared at his horse, the traitor, and also used her to hide behind. “You’ll laugh and then I’ll have to murder you, which will make the entire Sreng situation more complicated.”</p><p>“I <em>won’t</em> laugh,” Sylvain said. He sounded incredibly sincere and made his way around Felix’s mare to get close enough that he was hovering over, far too close. “Felix, come on. I promise. Whatever it is, you can tell me.”</p><p>Felix made himself busy with the saddlebags, retrieving Sylvain’s documents, mostly to have something to do that wasn’t <em>looking</em> at him.</p><p>“I’ve been… seeing someone recently,” Felix said, feeling like he might combust on the spot as he shuffled the papers front of him, on the pretense of putting them in order. “I’m… I’d… I don’t know how to interpret their behavior.”</p><p>“Are they being too pushy?” Sylvain asked, patient and thoughtful because he wanted to make it impossible for Felix to have an excuse to drop this.</p><p>“I <em>wish</em>,” Felix said, though it was more of a frustrated exhalation. When he handed the papers to Sylvain, he met his eyes for a moment and saw the cocked eyebrow. Felix immediately stared off somewhere towards the left of Sylvain’s shoulder. “He won’t… initiate anything and I don’t know how you even initiate anything, so it's been—I think he’s interested, but that’s as far as it’s gone.”</p><p>“<em>You’re</em> interested,” Sylvain said, it wasn't a question. “Have you talked to him about it?”</p><p>“I can’t do that,” Felix said. That was not happening. How pathetic would it be to follow-up on his longstanding emotional feelings for Dimitri with the fact that he also very much wanted to fuck him almost every single second he saw his stupid handsome face.</p><p>Sylvain cleared his throat and rested his hands on his hips. “Why not, exactly?”</p><p>“It’s — I don’t want it to feel like an obligation.” Sylvain wouldn’t get it. His conquests weren’t Dimitri, who was overcompensating for years of boarish behavior by being overly accommodating. Felix needed to be wanted. That’s how it was supposed to happen.“It’s supposed to be instinctive, natural. Isn’t that what you were always going on about?”</p><p>Felix’s mare huffed out an impatient breath and tried to chew at his hair. Sylvain chuckled and waved down someone to take the horses for them. “Come on, let’s go walk around the grounds—we’ll say we’re strategizing. We kind of are!”</p><p>There was silence as their feet crunched over the freshly defrosted dirt. Spring was almost here and Gautier, as usual, was getting the temperate weather last.</p><p>Sylvain waited until they were far away from the estate entrance and there weren’t any servants milling about to gossip into the irritating chain of people without better things to do that stretched through Faerghus.</p><p>“Are you sure just asking His Majesty to ravish you wouldn’t work? I feel like that would work.”</p><p>Felix felt all air leave his lungs. “<em>Sylvain</em>.”</p><p>Sylvain chuckled—it saved his neck that he seemed to be laughing at his own joke and not at Felix’s predicament. “You’re sure you and Dimitri are on the same page relationship wise? He is… very empathetic and overly verbose with his compliments sometimes. It’s gotten him into trouble. I think it’s the voice, personally. Unfair of the Goddess to gift him with more height and that voice when the rest of us peons are walking around having to work for it.”</p><p>“We’ve… kissed,” Felix said, pulling the words out of his mouth letter by letter like they were individual teeth that needed to be removed.</p><p>“Okay,” Sylvain said, thoughtful as he tapped his fingers against his thigh. “When did this start? Could be he’s taking it slow. It isn’t like Dimitri to be indelicate with people he cares about, especially in matters of the heart.”</p><p>“It’s been a month,” Felix snapped. It wasn’t like Sylvain was completely wrong. “He’s not… unaffectionate,” Felix said, dragging those words out like razorblades sharpening themselves against the teeth he had left.</p><p>If Dimitri had been indelicate with his feelings it would be easier, but instead he made things irrevocably <em>worse</em> with small affections: leaving Felix notes that said nauseating things like <em>I think your eyes sometimes look like a sunset, when the clouds have not yet been swept away, </em>or making sure all of Felix’s favorites were served at tea. Maybe worst of all were the innocuous physical touches that should not have made Felix react the way he did, like when Dimitri would thread his fingers through Felix’s for barely a moment before letting go. Felix wanted to climb on top of him, but Dimitri wanted…</p><p>Felix grunted and undid his hair, wiping it free of invisible horse-spit and retied it again, mostly to keep his hands occupied. “I have never seen you take a <em>month</em> to initiate something with one of your women.”</p><p>“Neither you or Dimitri are me,” Sylvain said, as if Felix should be grateful for that. “Are <em>you</em> affectionate?”</p><p>“Yes,” Felix said. Then, “Sort of.”</p><p>Sylvain was fighting a smile and doing badly at it. He avoided Felix’s fist to his arm, but only just. “Okay, okay! I’m not laughing. I’m… it’s very you, okay? It’s cute.”</p><p>“I’ll murder you,” Felix reminded him.</p><p>Sylvain shrugged and tapped his finger against his chin. “Well, there are plenty of non-verbal ways to indicate you’re interested. I’d say to start off with you might want to improve your eye contact.”</p><p>“I’m…” Felix trailed off when he realized he was looking at the nearby copse of trees and not Sylvain’s face. He made himself meet his friend’s eyes. They were serious for once, which helped. “All right. What else?”</p><p>Sylvain’s smile shifted a little, less of a mocking tinge to it and more genuine. “Have you tried casual touching?”</p><p>“Like what?”</p><p>Sylvain reached out and touched Felix’s shoulder. “Make excuses to clasp his shoulder, touch his thigh, little things that aren’t what you’d normally do with a friend. Also don’t tense, because you even do it under the hand of your oldest and dearest friend,” he added, squeezing Felix’s shoulder until Felix shrugged him off.</p><p>“Staring and touching?” Felix couldn’t believe this. “That’s your great secret for seduction?”</p><p>Sylvain shrugged. “Also helps being very cute and charming, but you can work with what you have.”</p><p>Sylvain did not avoid Felix’s fist to his arm this time, but laughed it off. Thankfully then the conversation shifted towards the official reasons for Felix’s visit and discussions of the coming Great Tree Moon celebrations.</p><p> </p><p>&amp;</p><p> </p><p>Felix had little patience for meetings with minor nobles, especially the ones who had all sorts of opinions now during peace, but were nowhere to be found when they were fighting a six year war. He didn't mind studying Dimitri, slowly becoming more and more comfortable in his position and expertly working them. It would've been more efficient to just tell them they were idiots, but there was something satisfying about seeing Dimitri's technique in this arena. </p><p>“I don’t see why not,” Dimitri said, blinking in that way that meant he thought the nobleman who asked him that question was an idiot (he was) and that he wanted Lord Strauss to think that Dimitri was the idiot (he wasn’t) to put him off his guard.</p><p>“Your Majesty sees no issue with a celebration for the founding of the Empire?” Lord Strauss asked, his eyebrows scrunching together but never touching. He overly plucked them to point of Felix wondering why he didn’t shave them off completely.</p><p>“Adrestria still exists, as do its people,” Dimitri said. He folded his hands in front of him and gave an indifferent shrug, briefly meeting Felix's gaze before refocusing on Strauss. “I see no harm in allowing celebrations for its founding." His voice deepened a little with the kind of regality that always made it clear he was born to this. "I believe that it being recognized by the capital rather than ignored would also assist with reconciling Fódlan from the conflict between countries that has existed far too long.”</p><p>“Hear hear, Your Majesty,” another lord said, sucking up, but at least causing the rest of the assembled nobles to nod and murmur to each other before moving onto the topic of what specific nonsense they were going to do to herald in the new year. Felix missed war strategy meetings.</p><p>He made himself meet Dimitri’s eye several times during the course of the discussions. Felix preferred standing or sitting at Dimitri’s right so he could guard his blindside, a habit from combat, but he made an effort to be on his left today so that eye contact was easier.</p><p>“Felix?” Dimitri asked, after the flock of nobles started to disperse.</p><p>Felix glanced up at him, tried to avoid the urge to glance away from the intensity and intimacy of Dimitri’s frank stare and held his breath instead. Maybe they'd finally have sex and do it on this table. Then there'd actually be something interesting that happened in this room for once.</p><p>“Do I have something on my face?” Dimitri asked. “You’ve been giving me an odd look all morning.”</p><p>“I… no,” Felix said. He stood up, scraping his chair back and muttered something about training before exiting.</p><p> </p><p>&amp;</p><p> </p><p>The antechamber of Dimitri’s rooms wasn’t exactly his bedroom, but the quiet and the warmth of it was lulling Felix into a drowse. He snapped his head up and blinked rapidly, trying to push sleep away from his mind. They’d been… having dinner. The food had been heavier than normal, the kitchen was trying out different recipes for the Great Tree Moon. Everything was needlessly decadent and Dimitri had convinced Felix to eat the entire meat pie and not ignore the crust.</p><p>Now he was paying for it with fatigue. “You look exhausted,” Dimitri said, stupidly fond. His lips curled up in a way that made Felix want to bite them.</p><p>“There was too much butter in that crust,” Felix said. Not that he knew if that was the culprit. It was just something Annette had claimed on occasion.</p><p>“I’ll inform the chef,” Dimitri said solemnly.</p><p>Felix resisted the urge to kick him, but then remembered what Sylvain had suggested about casual touching and reached out to shove his knee instead. Dimitri snorted and when Felix attempted to rest his hand there, Dimitri merely caught his fingers and laced them through Felix’s own.</p><p>Felix’s entire brain lost capacity for thought, merely because Dimitri’s gloved hand was touching his own. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do if he ever managed to get the bastard to actually let him feel skin. Felix cleared his throat and looked away, unable to come up with anything to say. Dimitri started to loosen his hand and Felix tightened his grip.</p><p>Dimitri’s thumb brushed over the juncture of Felix’s thumb and index finger, pushing down against the web of skin there and then sliding back up to caress the back of his hand. It was insanity. It was insanity that Dimitri was barely touching him and Felix felt as if his flesh was going to melt off his bone.</p><p>“Do you want to go to bed?” Felix blurted out, attempting the direct approach. When he dared glance in Dimitri’s direction to garner his reaction, Dimitri seemed <em>disappointed</em>.</p><p>“It is getting late,” Dimitri agreed. “Let me walk you back to your room.”</p><p>Felix’s tongue was lead in his mouth and he could only manage a gruff nod as his brain untangled <em>that</em> and he wondered if Dimtiri was being purposefully obtuse, if Felix was this bad at it, or <em>worse,</em> if he wasn’t interested at all.</p><p>Felix’s room wasn’t far from Dimitri’s; the walk was ridiculous, all things considered. He also noticed how scarce the guards made themselves and wasn't sure how he felt about that. Dimitri took Felix’s hand again, bowing his head and pressing his lips to the same spot his thumb had been touching earlier.</p><p>“Goodnight, Felix,” Dimitri said softly, somehow making Felix’s name sound like something else entirely.</p><p>Felix muttered his own goodnight or approximation of it and escaped to the safety of his room to smother himself with his own pillow.</p><p> </p><p>&amp;</p><p> </p><p>Several frustrating weeks later, Felix found Sylvain again. He was in the palace courtyard, likely having a tea service from one of the many servants he'd beguiled with the charm that was <em>useless</em> for Felix.  Felix walked right up to him and said, "It's not working." </p><p>Sylvain looked up from his tea. “Hi, Felix. Nice to see you too. Yes, why I am happy to be visiting the capital for the coming of the new year, thank you for asking.”</p><p>There were too many people in the gardens this time of day. “I need to talk to you.”</p><p>Sylvain sighed, long suffering, but put down his tea and followed Felix further out into the still unfinished part of the gardens that had been low on the priority list for palace renovations. It was strange that the rubble felt comforting, but the hedgerow was giving Felix hives. Anyone could’ve been behind it. He didn't need more added to his humiliation. </p><p>“I followed your advice and it isn’t working.” Felix paced towards an upturned bit of rock that might have been part of a parapet before Cornelia’s invasion. “Is it… do you think he’s not interested in it at all?”</p><p>Sylvain snorted his disbelief. “That’s not it.” When Felix glanced back over his shoulder at him, he looked a little chagrined. “I ah, sorta helped His Majesty, when he was still His Highness… let’s say relax. So that’s not it.”</p><p>Felix felt his mouth sour. “Then maybe he’s not interested in me.”</p><p>“That’s not it,” Sylvain said again, firmly. “Your off-putting nature is part of your charm.”</p><p>Felix turned away from him, ignoring the sting of that and the potential truth of at least half of it.</p><p>He heard Sylvain sigh and then his feet padding through the soft ground. Sylvain’s voice was soft, almost patient. “If you didn’t scare the piss out of everyone, you’d be fielding offers left and right. It’s not <em>that</em>.”</p><p>Felix didn’t believe him. He frowned. “Clearly I’m doing something wrong.”</p><p>“Maybe… maybe it’s hard to see you in this light?” Sylvain stepped up onto one of the upturned pieces of slate and then down again. “Have you tried, presenting yourself a little differently?”</p><p>Felix raised an eyebrow. “Presenting myself?”</p><p>Sylvain was clearly fighting the urge to say something juvenile, but Felix had to give him that he seemed to manage. “Dress up a little. Let your hair down.” He pulled a face. “Try to…spar in a sexy way?”</p><p>Felix felt his own face scrunch up. “What?”</p><p>Sylvain shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m trying to think of stuff you’d both like.” He grinned too broadly. “Hey, have you considered giving him a dagger?”</p><p>“You’re insufferable,” Felix said.</p><p>“You’re welcome,” Sylvain replied, tartly.</p><p>Felix refused to acknowledge that, but he did get him new tea since his had gone cold.</p><p> </p><p>&amp;</p><p> </p><p>Felix’s back muscles ached as he twisted himself into a knot. He’d seen the flirtatious time wasters that took up the training yard attempt it and it seemed effective. They’d probably have soiled the training yards with their erotic excursions if Felix hadn’t caught them.</p><p>Dimitri was looking at him, which was good. He seemed to be examining exactly what Felix was doing, which was also good. There was a darkening in his pupil that Felix hoped meant his attempt was working.</p><p>Instead, Dimitri’s brow and mouth pitched downwards. “You’re going to injure yourself. That stretch is better for post-training, rather than before.”</p><p>Felix straightened himself up, feeling the familiar mix of frustration, humiliation, and arousal that had become the hell of his life. He covered at least his embarrassment by grabbing a sword and pointing it at Dimitri. “Prove it.”</p><p> </p><p>&amp;</p><p> </p><p>Felix ran his fingers over his hair one more time, staring in the mirror at how long it had gotten. It had been ages since he’d worn his hair down. It was a clear signal that he was not expecting an attack, which was never true. It was almost as long as it had been in the Academy.</p><p>He looked over his outfit, picked out by one of the few servants who didn’t annoy him and who had merely smiled and listened when Felix had requested to wear something a little different from his normal attire. It wasn’t overly ostentatious and probably wouldn’t stand out much compared to the great egotistical flounces that would be dressed from head to toe in frills for the Spring Equinox gathering.</p><p>Felix felt like a fool, but he made himself go anyway.</p><p>It was tantamount to a ball, another excuse for people to gather, dress-up, drink, and socialize. It was the kind of crowded, shallow gathering that Felix hated dealing with, but it was also the kind of thing Dimitri disliked and would be guilted into attending.</p><p>There were gaudy decorative lights strung up around the curtains in a way that presented a serious fire hazard if Felix weren’t convinced from the ambient hum that they were magically induced. The music wasn’t terrible—Felix liked the string quartet—but the crowd of dancers swaying in traditional Faerghus dances were too clustered together. Felix downed a drink before he went to find Dimitri.</p><p>When he found him, his mouth went dry. Dimitri looked regal in way that magnified how he naturally carried himself. The way his hair was brushed and pulled back not to hide any of his face, the thin line of dark fur cutting through his jacket, the way none of it hid the broadness of his shoulders and space he took up. And all of it really meant nothing compared to seeing Dimitri smile like that when Felix finally approached.</p><p>“I almost didn’t recognize you,” Dimitri said, reaching out to touch the ends of Felix’s hair. “I can’t remember the last time you wore it down.”</p><p>Felix resisted the urge to twitch as Dimitri went so far as to twist a lock of his hair around his finger. He felt unnecessarily vulnerable. It wasn’t clear if it was the intimacy of the gesture or the fact that Dimitri was making it in a crowd full of people.</p><p>“I wanted to try something different,” Felix said, trying not to sound defensive.</p><p>“You look…” Dimitri paused, horrifyingly, and then ran his tongue over his lower lip before smirking and saying, “Resplendent.”</p><p>Felix managed to keep eye contact, mostly because it was much easier to glare at him this way. “Really?”</p><p>“Really,” Dimitri agreed, still smiling like a dreamy sap. He then seemed to notice what his hand was doing with Felix’s hair and dropped it at his side very suddenly. He cleared his throat and held his hand out. “Would the Duke of Fraldarius care to join me for a dance?”</p><p>Felix would rather turn into ash on the spot. “Fine,” he said, stiffly and took Dimitri’s hand.</p><p>Traditional Faerghus melodies played out as the dancing took on the steps, turns, and repetitions that bored Felix to death. He hadn’t even considered the benefit to dancing at all, until he’d competed (not entirely by choice) in the Heron Cup. That kind of dancing had a certain skill to it—this was all route and memorization.</p><p>The only positive was that Dimitri was still smiling. Even in the early days after the war Dimitri never looked this relaxed, the weight of rebuilding Faerghus (and Fódlan) weighing heavy on his shoulders. Felix supposed he could put up with a turn or two for a smooth, untroubled face.</p><p>A turn or two was all he got as he resisted the urge to stomp directly on the foot of Lady Silas, who insisted on her own turn around the floor with <em>His Majesty. </em>She had more competition than Felix, as the King had made it clear he was up for dancing so Dimitri was already being surrounded by petitioners demanding their own chance.</p><p>Felix decided to let Dimitri stew in it for a little bit, because <em>resplendent</em>, and because the oaf genuinely seemed to enjoy himself, even while clearly being overwhelmed at too much attention.</p><p>Felix’s own lips kept twitching up, especially after every subsequent spin when Dimitri would meet his eye. He either looked happy or he made a <em>help me</em> face depending on who he was dancing with—though he mostly seemed to be joking since he waved Felix off when he’d actually started to attempt a rescue.</p><p>The night dragged on like that, so long that Felix hadn’t noticed how dark it had gotten outside until Dimitri finally excused himself from the cluster of people that wanted to bend his ear if they couldn’t shuffle his feet.</p><p>The moment he was near him again, Dimitri's hand reached out for Felix, as if he was going for his hair again and he blinked and put his hand back down. He was flushed with the exertion of talking and dancing— he looked overwhelmed and overheated.</p><p>“You should get some fresh air,” Felix said.</p><p>Dimitri nodded, seeming relieved at the suggestion. “Let’s escape while we still can.”</p><p>They walked outside of the banquet hall, right towards the pavilions, and into the quiet of the night air. Felix didn’t hear any footsteps behind him, which meant the guards were either keeping their distance or Dimitri had dismissed them again. Hopefully it meant less interruptions by fawning simpletons too.</p><p>Dimitri’s had absently started touching the ends of Felix’s hair again, though he didn’t seem to notice, lost in a thought. “Do you remember the spring where it snowed for days and they were worried the frost would kill all the newly planted crops?”</p><p>“Vaguely,” Felix said, never trusting when Dimitri reminisced. “When we were eleven?”</p><p>“You hid behind me the entire night,” Dimitri said, fondly and overly indulgent in a way that made Felix want to kick him and want to kiss him in equal measure. “Clinging to my arm.”</p><p>“I didn’t want anyone to force me to dance,” Felix said. He took Dimitri’s arm, out of habit and from blatant prompting. He did not cling. “I wasn’t hiding. I would have… if you'd been this tall. It would have been very convenient.”</p><p>Dimitri huffed a laugh. “I am surprised you don’t try that during council meetings.”</p><p>“I couldn’t tell off idiots if I did that,” Felix said.</p><p>“Ah yes, couldn’t have that.”</p><p>“Of course not, then they wouldn’t know they were idiots,” Felix said, lips quirking as Dimitri’s warm laugh seemed to echo out of his chest.</p><p>Felix had forgotten to grab his coat before they’d gone outside. The weather was warming up, but the nights were still cold in Fhirdiad. He used it as an excuse to move a little closer to Dimitri, so that their sides were flush together. The bared skin of his arms prickled. Unable to resist, Felix lifted himself up off his heels to be at a better angle to steal a kiss.</p><p>The hand that had never left Felix’s hair, twisted strands around the fingers and pulled a little at the base so that his scalp tingled pleasantly when Dimitri’s mouth met his own. The quiet blanket of a spring night kept them uninterrupted and maybe meant that letting his hair down both literally and figuratively worked.</p><p>The kissing grew a little more demanding, heated in the way that seemed to combat any chill left in the air. Dimitri’s mouth was warm enough as it was and his lips always softer than Felix was expecting. The angle must have been bothering his neck, because suddenly Felix felt himself lifted off his feet. The single hand that had accomplished this (stupid Blaiddyd strength) was still squeezing Felix’s thigh and moving upwards.</p><p>The breathy moan that escaped could not have come from Felix, because he did <em>not</em> make noises like that. Before he could assess it, Dimitri was setting him on his feet and taking a step back.</p><p>“What?” Felix asked. There was a rattle to his voice he didn’t like and he crossed his arms over his chest. “Is something wrong?”</p><p>“No, I…” Dimitri cleared his throat, not looking at him for a moment, staring off into the distance at the horizon—which was nothing but trees. Then he looked back and he glanced at Felix’s arms. “You must be freezing,” he said, taking his jacket off—revealing the sharp lines of his top that only emphasized the cut of his figure.</p><p>Felix breathed out through his nose in annoyance and other things as Dimitri’s jacket landed over his shoulders. “Dimitri—”</p><p>“We should head back,” Dimitri said, not letting him finish, or even start. “They’ll notice I’m missing soon enough.”</p><p>Frustration and confusion churned in Felix’s gut, mixed with the spiral of heat that had begun to swell in his insides only seconds earlier.</p><p>“Go yourself then,” he scoffed, and turned around. He wasn’t sure if humiliation or annoyance was pricking underneath his skin more, but they both drowned out Dimitri calling for him as he stomped his way back to his own room.</p><p>It wasn’t until he was there that he realized he still had Dimitri’s jacket draped over his shoulders. It even smelled like him.</p><p>Felix rested his forehead against the wall and did not bang his head into it. Much.</p><p> </p><p>&amp;</p><p> </p><p>“I don’t know if you know this,” Sylvain said over a post-training breakfast (that Felix had pressured him into, to make up for his terrible advice), “but seduction isn’t going to work great if you’re avoiding the seductee.”</p><p>Felix stabbed his fork into the rasher of meat in front of him and took an angry bite. The chewy gristle of it made him feel a little better and the salt dried his mouth out enough that he didn’t have to dignify Sylvain’s stupidity with a response.</p><p>“You need to talk to him,” Sylvain said, while Felix chewed. “I don’t know what happened yesterday, but I can tell you the look His Majesty was giving you all night wasn’t exactly chaste.”</p><p>“Stop talking,” Felix said before taking another bite.</p><p>Sylvain sighed and leaned back in his chair. “Fine, fine, fine, but with charm like this it’s no wonder you’re having trouble.”</p><p>Felix did not stab him with his fork, which he thought was generous.</p><p> </p><p>&amp;</p><p> </p><p>Felix didn’t avoid Dimitri, but he did happen to be where the King was not going to be. He was finally able to sort out some business for Fraldarius that had been buried beneath assisting <em>His Majesty. </em> Training kept his mind off everything and at least let him get some physical exertion, even if it wasn’t the kind he wanted.</p><p>Felix slammed his sword into the practice dummy again. It satisfyingly rocked on its hinges. </p><p>Maybe Dimitri was having second thoughts about all of this. It would fit his behavior. Yet, he'd seemed liked he'd wanted <em>something</em> when he kissed Felix like that.  But maybe what Dimitri <em>really</em> wanted was the Felix who hid behind him to avoid dancing when they were eleven, who wasn't really Felix at all... not really, not yet.</p><p>A sharp pain shot through Felix as he realized the truth of it—maybe Dimitri <em>didn’t</em> want him at all. It wasn’t as if Felix was the traditional type of prospect—those were aplenty the night before, vying for a dance with the King frocked in frilly dresses.</p><p>Even if Felix had been born without the confusion of being stuffed into similar stupid outfits—he'd still be an angry man attempting to enter a relationship with the King of Faerghus. </p><p>Felix didn’t have the energy to hit the dummy again. He let the sword rest at his side and shut his eyes tightly enough that he could see flashes behind the black of his eyelids.</p><p>Maybe he’d been fooling himself and ignoring the clear truth of it that he and Dimitri were never going to be more than… whatever the hell they were.</p><p> </p><p>&amp;</p><p> </p><p>Dimitri was waiting at his door when Felix returned to his room. The urge to shove him was overwhelming and made Felix feel like he was a child, so he ignored it <em>and</em> ignored Dimitri as he went into his room without acknowledging him.</p><p>“Felix,” Dimitri said, pushing the door open. He took a step into the room. Then he stopped, hesitating before actually crossing the threshold in a way that made Felix so angry he could feel it in his marrow.</p><p>He picked up Dimitri’s coat, still slung over his desk chair, and then flung it at him. “What? You can’t even be alone in a room with me now?”</p><p>“It’s not a room,” Dimitri said, folding his jacket over his arms and pursing his lips. “It’s your bedroom. There’s a steep difference.”</p><p>“Tch,” Felix crossed his arms over his chest. He glared at the toe of Dimitri’s boot, still infuriatingly barely touching past the doorway.</p><p>“What’s gotten into you?” Dimitri asked, heaving a sigh as if he had any right to be exasperated. “You’ve been avoiding me all day.”</p><p>The only benefit to Felix being this angry was that it smothered any other emotions that might have kept his mouth shut. “You’ve been avoiding me for over two months,” Felix snapped. “If you don’t want to fuck me, you could have said so and saved us both the hassle.”</p><p>There was an uncomfortable silence that stretched out and let Felix feel the weight of those words now that they’d escaped. He wanted to crawl out the window—but he was also tired, angry, and he <em>meant</em> them so he’d stand by it. He crossed his arms harder and stubbornly put his jaw up so he could look up from Dimitri’s boots.</p><p>Dimitri carefully took a few steps into the room, far enough to close the door behind him. “That’s not true,” he said. “Felix… I… is that really what you believe I think?”</p><p>“It’s fine,” Felix lied through his teeth. “If it’s… if I’m not what you’re interested in. It would’ve been better to know earlier, but I’ll survive.”</p><p>The loud breath Dimitri exhaled nearly echoed across the room. “It has been nearly impossible to keep my hands to myself around you. I’ve been trying to <em>contain</em> myself, Felix. I haven’t been <em>disinterested</em>.”</p><p>Felix dropped his hands to his sides and rested one on his hip, wishing his sword belt wasn’t empty for something to rest his hand on. He didn’t believe him. Sylvain’s earlier words about Dimitri not being ‘indelicate’ were roiling in his brain.</p><p>“Why are you trying to contain yourself?”</p><p>Dimitri gestured in the air. “The Gentleman’s Rules of Courtship.”</p><p>Felix stared at him. “What?”</p><p>Dimitri sighed. “I have been trying to do this properly and court you. Honestly, I have almost followed the process so fastidiously you could have copied it out of the book. I can’t believe you wouldn’t pick up on that. We had the same lessons.”</p><p>Felix blinked at him, comfortable anger fizzling into a less grounded confusion. “No, we didn’t. I was stuck with Ingrid learning how to embroider or some other bullshit.” Some garbage about propriety and what befits a proper lady that even Ingrid couldn't stand.</p><p>Dimitri closed his eyes and rubbed his knuckles against the bridge of his nose. “I didn’t think of that—” He dropped his hand and stared at Felix, frowning thoughtfully. “Didn’t your teacher quit halfway through your etiquette training, something about rodents released in the classroom?”</p><p>“It was Ingrid’s idea,” Felix said, defensively—even now he’d been upset he hadn’t come up with it himself. Not that it mattered now. He stared at Dimitri, his face twisting in confusion. “Why would you think I would give a flying fuck about the rules of courtship even if I knew what they were?”</p><p>“I thought you might want to ease into it,” Dimitri said, softening. “You’ve always been uncomfortable undressing in communal settings or even using the sauna at the Monastery. I thought following the steps would be an excuse to give you time.”</p><p>It was incredibly thoughtful <em>and </em>stupid, which was... so Dimitri. Felix was almost infuriated all over again that Sylvain’s original advice of just asking Dimitri to <em>ravish</em> him might have actually worked.</p><p>He met Dimitri’s gaze without hesitation. “I don’t need time.”</p><p>“Are you certain?” Dimitri asked.</p><p>Felix’s immediate reaction was to let out a disgusted scoff, but before he could even tell Dimitri off for thinking he wouldn’t be anything but certain, Dimitri had tossed his own coat aside and taken the two steps forward to grasp Felix behind his neck and drag him into a <em>much</em> less courtly version of his usual goodnight kiss.</p><p>Felix was engulfed by it. His heart battered against his ribcage as Dimitri pressed him back into the wall, lips and hands everywhere. Felix had trouble keeping up, but refused to let that stop him and soon had his fingers gripping Dimitri by his hair and the nape of his neck. If he had to climb him like a fucking battlement, he’d do it to keep Dimitri’s hot, wet mouth against his own.</p><p>His usually soft lips were brutal in their crush against Felix’s. The feeling of Dimitri’s hand palming the span of Felix’s back and their tongues rolling together caused another horrible noise that Felix was worried was more of a whimper than a moan.</p><p>“Honestly,” Dimitri said, breathless against Felix’s cheek, “the noises you make, Felix. I almost had you in the gardens.”</p><p>“You should have, idiot,” Felix snapped. He was furious that either of them were still talking and that his mouth wasn’t otherwise occupied so he could smother any more of these pathetic sounds.</p><p>Dimitri refused to take direction, because he was impossible—and even the barest hint of finger trailing a tender touch down Felix’s neck usually sent a heated spiral of want from his core, so the same application of Dimitri’s tongue, followed by the scraping off his teeth, only escalated all the stupid noises into gasping cries.</p><p>Felix gnashed his teeth together and dug his fingers hard into Dimitri's shoulders, trying to undo the buttons that were holding his shirt together. He barely managed to get three of them, before Dimitri was lifting him up into the air again, carrying him towards the bed—<em>finally</em>.</p><p>He’d thought of Dimitri enough here, it was about time he actually did something about it.</p><p>Picturing the weight of him crushing Felix into the mattress was one thing, actually feeling it, sent a buzz straight up his spine and had him clutching Dimitri’s shoulders and grinding his hips up towards the obvious growing bulge in Dimitri’s trousers.</p><p>Dimitri’s teeth were in much more play than Felix had pictured. They were marking up his collarbone (at some point his shirt had been ripped and Felix had apparently not noticed) when Dimitri murmured a disbelieving, “Disinterested.”</p><p>“When else?” Felix asked, too alight with sensation to care about how breathy he sounded. “When else did you stop yourself?”</p><p>Dimitri looked up from Felix’s chest, his fingers came up to untie the band in Felix’s hair and he watched as it fell onto his shoulders with a dark stare. “Too often to be appropriate,” Dimitri said.</p><p>“Do I look like I give a shit about appropriate?” Felix breathed.</p><p>“You look stunning,” Dimitri said, with a complete straight face, still staring at Felix with that all consuming look that Felix might drown in.</p><p>“Shut up,” Felix said and pushed Dimitri’s shoulder so he rolled onto his back.</p><p>Dimitri looked amused now, his hands rested lightly on Felix’s waist in a way that was making him feel woozy. “I will absolutely not. Especially now that I know what your mind thinks when I keep to myself how lovely you look when you press a teacup to your mouth. I’ve never once felt so utterly envious of an inanimate object before.”</p><p>“You’re unbelievable,” Felix said, as his face melted off his skull from embarrassment.</p><p>He remembered what Dimitri had said about his shyness undressing (as if that didn’t have anything to do with how disgusting most common dressing areas were). Felix’s top was already mostly hanging off him and it was easy enough to tug on the rip and toss it aside.</p><p>“Take your gloves off,” Felix said, feeling only a little less dizzy as Dimitri followed direction. Felix guided his now barehands back to his own waist and breathed out against the feel of the calloused palms and fingers squeezing at his sides.</p><p>Dimitri looked like he might say another utterly ridiculous statement so Felix kissed him to shut him up. It let him focus on Dimitri’s hands, roaming up and down his bare back and pressing the pads of his fingers underneath the minimal wrap he used for training.</p><p>Dimitri seemed to have trouble getting it loose but before Felix could reach back and do it himself the fabric split at the seams and fell into two neat pieces at his sides. Felix bit Dimitri’s lip in retaliation and worked on Dimitri’s own shirt—no unworldly strength to tear the buttons open, but plenty of motivation to all the same.</p><p>It took longer than Felix would’ve liked until they were naked. It was difficult to accomplish when he refused to detach more than one area of his body from Dimitri’s now that he was getting to feel all of him at once.</p><p>He yielded eventually, mostly because Dimitri moved Felix up his own torso so he was practically resting on his face. Felix's knees were resting by the side of Dimitri's head and had to steady himself on the bed frame. Dimitri nosed against damp curls and murmured something utterly horrifying about the tragedy that he couldn’t taste before his tongue made good on it.</p><p>Felix leaned against his forearm, squeezing his eyes shut and barely managing to keep from suffocating Dimitri and thrusting his hips into his face as the King of Fódlan lapped at his clit.</p><p>He would have made a remark about at least Dimitri couldn’t talk, but if Felix opened his mouth the strangled moaning he was trying to smother into his arm would never, ever stop. One sharp burst of heat trailed into his abdomen and stuttered forward, clenching around nothing and only staying upright because Dimitri had one hand on his hip, keeping him in place as he continued a lazy path with his tongue.</p><p>Felix flopped onto the bed, boneless and tugged at Dimitri’s hair. “Was that in your stupid etiquette book?”</p><p>“No,” Dimitri said, kissing his way up Felix’s sternum as he climbed over him. His tone was sweetly smug. “Did you like it?”</p><p>“Fuck you,” Felix groused, weakly.</p><p>“Definitely not in your etiquette lessons,” Dimitri said to his neck, his amused chuckle rumbling against Felix’s throat as his hand trailed over Felix’s chest.</p><p>There wasn’t much there and Felix had never been particularly sensitive when he’d touched himself there, but Dimitri’s hand cupping him and his thumb brushing against his nipple caused Felix to kick into the bed to keep from crying out.</p><p>“Ahh—are you going to get on with it or what?” Felix said, almost managing not to crack over some of the words.</p><p>“Patience is a virtue,” Dimitri said, because he was a bastard. A bastard with an incredible tongue that Felix wanted somewhere on or in him and all times from now on.</p><p>“I have been <em>very</em> patient,” Felix said, biting his lip as Dimitri kissed his ribcage—as if that was a fucking erogenous zone. “I have been decades worth of patient.”</p><p>Dimitri lifted his head up enough to stare at Felix. He was studying him, looking for something, and seemed to find it, as a small, “ah,” left his lips before he frowned and sat up a little. “Maybe we should—”</p><p>Felix refused to let him finish. “I swear to the fucking Blue Sea Star above, that if you stop because this isn’t <em>romantic</em> enough, I will happily commit regicide.”</p><p>Dimitri looked like he might <em>laugh</em> at him, which made Felix actually kick him. That only succeeded in getting his leg caught underneath Dimitri’s arm and left him open to being manhandled up the bed, so that he was resting his back against the pillows and his skull against the headboard.</p><p>It took, once again, longer than Felix would have preferred, but finally the tip of Dimitri’s cock was actually pressing against his entrance. It was… a little more than he was expecting, but his imagination hadn’t exactly been specific in that regard. The fantasies and dreams mostly teetered off at that the point to chase an orgasm. He didn’t account for the surprised needy gasp that would leave his mouth as Dimitri slowly stretched and filled him.</p><p>“You feel incredible,” Dimitri said, his mouth rumbling it against Felix’s neck. “Wonderful.”</p><p>Felix dragged his fingers against Dimitri’s back, clawing for some purchase and sensation other than the one consuming him. “Dimitri,” Felix choked.</p><p>“Yes, love?” Dimitri asked, still pressed to his neck. He’d stopped moving, which was not what Felix wanted him to do.</p><p>“Just—ahhn—don’t stop.”</p><p>Felix didn’t even know what he was trying to say. There was too much of it competing for dominance of his tongue.</p><p>His hips arched automatically, changing the angle and letting Dimitri slip deeper inside—Felix felt like he could feel it in his soft palette, pressed against his insides, claiming every inch of him, as if Dimitri hadn’t always had it.</p><p>The rhythm and pace of it started like one of those traditional Faerghus dances, slow and almost familiar as Dimitri moved his hands up and down Felix’s side in tandem with his measured drag and thrusts. It stopped following that predictable beat as Dimitri incoherently murmured nonsense endearments against Felix’s neck, his chin, his mouth. Felix clung onto him, incapable of grounding himself and doing anything other than feel Dimitri move. He quickened, each successive thrust deeper than the last and knocking Felix back against the bed frame.</p><p>Not a single deluded fantasy had lived up to the way heat coiled around Felix’s stomach and shuddered through him as if it wouldn’t ever stop. He came again and this time he clenched around Dimitri, causing a strangling growl that he was pretty sure wasn’t him. Dimitri buried his head in Felix’s neck and pumped twice more before he spent himself, leaving a reminder of just how deeply he’d been.</p><p>A few long moments of heaving breath and then Felix felt the vibrations of echoing pleasure receding down to his toes as he stretched out in his bed.</p><p>Dimitri was next to him, toying with the ends of Felix’s hair, the only pieces of it not soaked in sweat. “Since we are no longer following archaic courting rituals, how would you feel about moving into my rooms?”</p><p>Felix silently drew a circle on Dimitri’s shoulder, brushing over scratches and marks that might be bruises in the morning. “That sounds better than walking me four doors away.”</p><p>“I thought you liked me escorting you?” There was a pout in Dimitri’s voice, that wasn’t quite on his face.</p><p>“I don’t like you leaving after,” Felix said. He brushed some loose hair out of Dimitri’s face and ran his thumb down the arc of his cheekbone. “You can still… do the other rituals, if you want.”</p><p>Dimitri’s eyebrows raised, but Felix could tell he was pleased with that. Ridiculous man. “Even the notes?”</p><p>Felix’s nose wrinkled of its own accord. “As long as you never use the word ‘resplendent’ in any of them.”</p><p>Dimitri smiled at him, which if Felix were not already warmed inside and out would have melted him through with how utterly at peace he looked.</p><p>“The word I wanted to use was tantalizing.”</p><p>Felix covered his face with his hands and groaned.</p><p> </p><p>&amp;</p><p> </p><p>Felix tossed the sack of candy and tea at Sylvain, who fumbled but managed to catch it all the same. He looked confused until he opened it and then brightened. “What’s this for?”</p><p>Felix once again didn’t need to answer as Sylvain looked him over and then a sly smile stretched across his face. “Ohhh. Congrats.”</p><p>With difficulty, Felix ignored him. “Did you ever have to read The Gentleman’s Rules of Courtship?” he asked.</p><p>Sylvain tilted his head and frowned thoughtfully. “I think… that might still be under my desk at home.” At Felix’s confused look, he added. “The legs were wobbling. It was either that or use it as kindling. Why do you ask?”</p><p>“Nothing. Just, explains a lot.”</p><p>Sylvain frowned at him and dug into his bag. “I’m going to pretend I can’t pick up on that insulting undertone because I like bergamot.”</p><p> </p><p>&amp;</p><p> </p><p>Dimitri continued to be utterly ridiculous and escort Felix to <em>their</em> rooms. Freed from any constraints of archaic bullshit ideals, Dimitri still seemed determined to ruin Felix with small, simple gestures.</p><p>It was a little easier to tolerate the soft, chaste kiss to his forehead, when it was happening in their shared bed.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>ingrid made sure none of the rodents were harmed in the pranking of this teacher</p><p>{If you enjoyed this fic and feel like it, please share the <a href="https://twitter.com/waffle_fancy/status/1342921212867923968?s=20">the promo tweet</a>.}</p></blockquote></div></div>
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